Resurrection

Sometimes life takes some strange twists and turns, and my own life has been no exception to this. For those interested, or not... I am in the midst of "turning over a new leaf", which seems to be appropriate for autumn, with leaves falling and mist and fog taking over the weather. So much has changed since I last wrote here. I forgot this blog was here, as I had started another blog elsewhere. I find that there are too many limitations in the code for the templates they allow you to use here, so I wasn't paying attention. Sorry.

Someone asked me a question. I think that it is never too late to start over, but it is not without it's difficulties. There are barriers and baggage that seem to want to be stumbling blocks, and sometimes we have erroneous theories or perceptions about the present situation that can keep us from moving forward. I have often found that I need to pitch one approach, and try something new, when it seems there is no way to get past the perceived barrier in the present. Creative thinking is called for here! This is where the huge growth spurts happen... in the often desperate "what if?" ideas that we think of, but might discard without trying, simply because we are so accustomed to a routine that has been working for years. Often, the routine is holding us back from becoming our best self, or producing our best work, in whatever field we are wanting to be creative in. I believe this holds true for all creative people, whether they are a musician, painter, or whatever.

Memory can be a help, or a hinderance. It is up to each person to decide which memories are good, and which are harmful. I want to preserve my good memories, and learn from the harmful things in the past, so that I can be ready for the future. I am hopeful that this is one of the best parts of "me", and that it will keep me growing and young in heart, as I go forward in years. I'll try to post some photos again soon. I'll have some free time this week.

Elaine

July is nearly over already???

Wow, this month has flown by! I was very fortunate to be able to take part in a weeklong workshop with Akemi Nakano Cohn, at Coupeville Arts Center, in Color Rice Paste Resist on Silk. This is a topic that has been of great interest to me for years. I have been fascinated with two techniques, katazome (which is rice paste resist through hand-cut stencils), and tsutsugaki (freehand drawn rice paste resist, sort of reminds you of squeezing icing or toothpaste through a small hole in a tube, in order to draw). Both methods can also be used with color added to the rice paste, which, when steamed, creates intense color on the silk that is very permanent. This is a dying art in Japan, though there are those artists who are working to keep the art alive, not only by their own work, but by sacrificing some of their studio time to teach others what they know.

I was very pleased with what I learned, though as is my nature in a workshop environment, I didn't produce a lot of "product" during class time. I came out with 3 pieces, all of which were illustrative of what I learned, though not all were as successful as I would have liked. I guess most of us can say that? There were 6 of us in the class, from all over the US, and I saw some really great work being done. I think I may have been the least experienced when it came to working with silk.

I'll be back in a while, hopefully, to post pictures from the class.

I haven't done much (okay, not really any!) digi-scrapping lately. I've spent more time in the garden and rearranging the house, and haven't been on the computer as much as I usually am. I HAVE been taking more photos, though, so maybe some of them can be shared.

I hope to get some serious work done this week.

Being horribly sick, and breaking my "scrapping barrier"

I have NO idea what I am doing, but I am determined to learn, to make some nice "pages", to save some of my family photographs from years gone by, and do something with the photographs from our trips, as well as the photos I take all the time. I have SO MUCH graphic design experience, but how will that translate into something so totally different? I've never made a scrapbook in my life! Okay. I take that back. I made a baby book, one of those horrific things that are premade for you to fill in when you have a child. I don't remember for how many years I actually tried to keep up with it, but it wasn't much fun, or very attractive, really. And I have several of those nasty photo albums with the "magnetic" pages, photos are often "polaroids" (remember them?) and fading fast. I need to save those photos. All my wedding photos and others are in boxes, along with every other photo I've ever taken, prior to the 'save a copy on CD' era.

So... I spent some time the past few days, determined to get over my fear of foolishness, and actually made a couple of layouts! Guess what! They were well-received. So, if I can figure out how to get them on here, I'll share them. I don't think anyone is reading this blog. Thank goodness.

Okay, so here is the first layout. I did two challenges this past weekend. One was for Lara's Digi World, and we had to use a mini-kit she provided, to make a layout. I had a hard time with this, and hadn't a photo I thought would work with it, so I didn't put a photo in. This is how it came out, and I believe she plans on even showing it on her blog! This page is called 'Daisy Days'.

Then, at the same time, Sunshine Girls' new site, Sunshine Studio Scraps Forum, there was a week-long challenge called "Emerging Layout", in which you were given pieces day by day for a week, and invited to make a layout as you went along. I wanted to play, but couldn't get Photoshop to play nice with the idea of these digi-scrap things! I couldn't manage to do anything right! It took me 3 days, but I finally got going, and managed to start on THEIR challenge, while at the same time, working on the one for the other challenge. This time, I was really late posting my starting layout, but managed to keep up for the last few days, though I'd scrapped myself into a corner and left no room for a picture! But it turned out pretty well. Here is the second layout:


And, THIS one even won me a package of Quick Pages! Very cool. And some people had encouraging things to say, so I am going to keep at it. The worst of it was, that I was getting sicker and sicker as the week went on, but I didn't go to the doctor until I was VERY sick indeed. So now I am on antibiotics, but I am improving, so I don't have to go to the hospital tomorrow. Maybe if I keep busy with this, since I can't go outside and I can't do much except in small spurts, I'll be satisfied. I am sleeping about 4 hours, then I wake up, take more pills, drink water, and back to bed. I think the fevers have about stopped, or at least are less. I can't concentrate on the knitting right now. I tend to fall asleep and drop it, then when I wake up, I have no idea where I left off, or if I remember what to do next!

Scrapping is easier, so long as I remember to save constantly! I have a new challenge I am going to work on, and I am going to do my best to keep blogging, not just drop it for months and say nothing.

If anyone IS reading this, please leave me a note and let me know, but be nice. Some of us are new to this whole blogging thing, much less the scrapping too. And now I'll have to start taking photos of my spinning and knitting to post them, LOL.

See ya!

Floating Moon, Indigo Sky

... it really IS all about the colors. That's the way I see things, what inspires me. The color or colors are first, then it's the texture, either visual or tactile. Even words, bring color to mind. This is my new beginning blog. I've tried blogging before, but it isn't easy for me to make a commitment to say something every day, or even every few days. I don't normally think I have a thing to say that would be interesting to someone else, much less waste time posting it on the internet! There are LOTS of blogs on the internet that have worthwhile things to say. But then again, so many times, I find things I want to share with my friends, and so many of my friends are online! It seems to make more sense to create a blog, to just post my shares... the things that get my attention, get me thinking. AND, I'm hoping, a lot less time consuming than sending out a bunch of emails.

So, good morning! Here's what's on my mind today. COLOR. Glorious, gorgeous color... everywhere I look. For those of you who don't know, my "work", as well as my "fun", are both expressed through my studio, which I have named Floating Moon Studio. The name is based on the way the moon often seems to be floating in the indigo sky... sometimes sailing along when it's not full (and it looks like the sail of a ship bowed by the wind), reflected in the water of the bay below me. It was mind-blowingly beautiful last night... the moon so full, the bay so still, almost like glass... a silver pathway across the water, to the mainland, the mountains beyond. Where would it take me, if I followed the path? For years, I worked, I WAS, Firefly Designs and Firefly Studio; then I let my domain name lapse, someone snatched it up, but in the meantime I was seeing "firefly this and that" everywhere, so it seemed like I needed to move on. And I HAD, literally, moved... to a tiny island floating in saltwater here in the Pacific Northwest. Been here for 4 years now, almost 5. I don't think I'll be here many more years. Soon it will be time to move again. But for now, this is home... this place of mountains that nearly touch the sea, snow caps visible all year long, water too cold to swim in... breathtaking beauty of a special kind. Floating Moon, you will follow me wherever in the world I go... Fireflies aren't here... don't live everywhere in the world, much to my surprise, though I take them in my heart.

I have a song in my mind today, an old song by Dan Fogelberg: "the end of October, the sleepy brown world seems to bow down its head to the winter... " NOT YET! NOT YET! Although I love the song... I am wanting to say, today is not sleepy or brown... though the garden is going to sleep. I want to escape to warm waters and faraway beaches when it gets to the greys of winter. Do you?

I am torn today. Do I work with fibers and stitch, knit, or spin? Do I start working with my photographs, sorting them and creating digital albums of pages to save for my family and friends? The whole deal with the photos and digi-scrapping is something I am just beginning to explore, as a way to work with and enjoy the many photos I have taken and saved over the years. They're stuffed into boxes, sometimes shoved into generic albums... but they deserve more. The way they are now, they don't entice me to open the box, the book, and look at them; but I should! There are memories there! Family is there, some of them long-gone, and I miss them. I want to share them, and their stories, with others. The knitting is sitting and calling to me with it's siren song: "come and make the loops, that magic that happens with two sticks and a string..."

The house is yelling, "hey, clean me up." LOL. I can quiet that voice, drown it out with the others I'd rather hear! Do you? Okay. Enough for now. I've taken the step of starting the blog. I think it was a reaction to a post earlier this week, by one of my online connections, Abby, who was answering someone ELSE, (can you see the ripple effect here?) about who should spin, should everyone know how to spin? And it really made me think. Thank you, Abby... you push my "thinking button" often!

Oh yes... warning to those who know and care about these things: Yes, I DO know good grammar. NO, I don't CARE so much about using it here, for now, and maybe not ever... I see this as more of a stream of consciousness kind of thing. I don't tend to think in perfectly formed grammatical essays, though they have their place in my life. But if I am going to blog, then I reason that I must just allow it to flow out of my fingers, without having to concern myself with editing too awfully much. I will make every effort to spell properly, as a mis-spelled word literally does bug the living daylights out of me! But I think someone, somewhere, should probably label me The Queen of Ellipses, when it comes to email, membership list posts, and the like. So why should my blog be any different? It's not a blog about grammar, though I got perfect marks in school for that subject.

And now I will move on, to finish the rest of what constitutes a "blog" construction. And wait to hear if I will get flamed for putting myself out there for the world to judge.